Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plotteresarosa

7/31/2019 Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plotteresarosa

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GUY FAWKES AND THE

GUNPOWDER PLOT


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This is the story of a group of men who plotted to kill a King and his advisers by

blowing up the Houses of Parliament on 5th November 1605.


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The story begins when Henry VIII was King.

Henry wanted to divorce Catherine of Aragon so he could marry someone else, but

there was a problem. The Pope wouldnt let him divorce his wife because it was against

the rules of the Roman Catholic Church. Therefore, he stopped being a Catholic and

became a Protestant.

A couple of monarchs later, in 1558, his Protestant daughter became Queen

Elizabeth I. There were a lot of Catholics in Europe, and the Queen was afraid they might

invade and gang up on the Protestants. To keep them in their place, she persecuted the

Catholics in England, which means she treated them very badly.

When Elizabeth died in 1605, King James VI of Scotland because King James I of

England. At first, the Catholics were quite pleased about this, because James was the son

of Mary Queen of Scots, who was a Catholic. Also, James was married to Queen Anne of

Denmark, who was a Catholic.

So the Catholics thought the new King would be much kinder to thembut he

wasnt!


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A few of them were so fed up with what was going on that they made some drasticplans

Five men plotted to kill James I and his advisers by blowing up the Houses of

Parliament at the official opening of Parliament. They were led by Robert Catesby. The other

plotters were Thomas Percy, Thomas Wintour, John Wrightand Guy Fawkes.


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Guy Fawkes was born in York in 1570. His

family were Protestants, but he later became a

Catholic.

He joined the Spanish army as a soldier of

fortune and started to call himself Guido Fawkes.

Hed been fighting for Spain in Flanders for

more than 10 years, when he met Thomas Wintour,

who asked him to join the group of plotters. Guy

Fawkes could be useful to the group because he knew

about gunpowder.

He came back to England in 1604.


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The plotters rented a house next door to the Houses of Parliament. They planned to

dig a tunnel so they could get the gunpowder from the cellar of the house to the House of

Lords - but this didnt work out because it took too long. So they came up with another plan.

Thomas Percy managed to get hold of a cellar that was directly underneath the House

of Lords. Guy Fawkes became caretaker of the cellar and pretended he was Thomas Percys

servant. He called himself John Johnson.

The plotters managed to hide 36 barrels of gunpowder under firewood in the cellar

after taking them one by one across the River Thames during the night.

Everything was ready for the opening of Parliament on 5th November 1605!


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They had to figure out what they wanted to happen after the King had been killed.

The whole plot came about because Catholics were being persecuted, so it was very

important that the next ruler would be good to Catholics. They decided that Princess

Elizabeth, one of King James daughters, should become Queen after the explosion. They

arranged for arms and ammunition to be stored around the country for the Catholic people

to use in case they had to fight to get Princess Elizabeth on the throne.

Unfortunately, these big plans meant that they needed money to buy the weapons and

then they had to find good hiding places. So more people became involved in the plot.


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The plotters were very careful about who they told and made sure they only shared

their secret with their relatives or people they knew very well. One of these people was

Francis Tresham.

Now, Treshams brother-in-law was Lord Monteagle. As the House of Lords was

likely to be a pretty dangerous place on 5th November, it is believed that Tresham wrote to

Lord Monteagle, warning him to stay away from the opening of Parliamentand thats

when people started to get a bit suspicious!


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Lord Monteagle took the letter to Robert Cecil, who was Secretary of State for the King, and

a search of the cellar was arranged.

On 4th November 1605, Guy Fawkes was in the cellar, preparing a special, slow-burning

fuse for the big day. It was his job to light the fuse before making his escape to the continent.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door! Some men had been sent to search the cellar.

Luckily for Guy Fawkes, the gunpowder was very well hidden and all that could be seen

was firewood. When the searchers left, he breathed a big sigh of relief and continued with his

preparations, but


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The searchers had noticed that there was an awful lot of firewood in that cellar and a

further search was arranged. Guy Fawkes found himself face to face with a magistrate, who

was accompanied by soldiers!

He was quickly overpowered. The soldiers made a more thorough search and quickly

found the barrels of gunpowder. Guy Fawkes was arrested and taken away to be questioned

by King James himself.


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One year later, on 5th November 1606, bonfires were lit in London to celebrate that

the plot had been foiled and the King had been savedand in the UK we still light bonfires

every year.

Sometimes, kids make a figure out of old rubbish or papier mache and dress it up in

old clothes. This is called a Guy, after Guy Fawkes. This Guy gets thrown onto the bonfire.

Another tradition is for the kids to take their Guy out on the street and ask passers by

if theyll give them a penny for the Guy. The money raised is supposed to go towards

fireworks.

Heresyet another interesting tradition: Every year, as part of the State Opening ofParliament, the buildings are searched by the Yeoman of the Guards. They wear their Tudor

uniforms and are armed with pikes.


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And heres a famous traditional poem

Remember, Remember

The Fifth of November

The Gunpowder, Treason and Plot

I know of no reason

Why the Gunpowder Treason

Should ever be forgot.


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Teresa Rosa

No.23/11A

Documents

Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plotteresarosa